Maps: a KevEdd Fic
by princesskittyxo
Summary: A simple, multiple chapter fic about Edd growing up, and Kevin coming to terms with himself and his feelings for Edd. Rated T for mild language.
1. Chapter 1

**MAPS: a KevEdd Fic**

**Chapter One**

It was another rainy Wednesday night. Edd sat alone in his bedroom, finished with his homework and stricken with a feeling of monotony in its most tangible form. This was the norm. It was what he had grown used to at night, every night, for a handful of years. On the weekends, Ed would drop by and keep him company. Sometimes Edd's parents would return home for a brief "hello" and a stereotypical family meal—but, for the most part, it was just Edd, all by himself, all alone.

Things had changed quite a bit over the years. The Ed trio crumbled during the transition from middle school into high school. Double D himself hadn't transformed too drastically, but he had grown a little taller, a little leaner, and a little more reserved. He constantly thought back onto the happier days in his life, when he and Ed and Eddy would run merrily around the cul-de-sac and scream at the top of their lungs and throw all of their troubles away. Those days faded quickly into a bleak existence after Edd and Eddy got into a fight.

Double D leaned backward in his rolling office chair as he thought of the day.

_He and Eddy were waiting for Ed, who had spent the summer before high school training for the Peach Creek High football team, to be finished with practice. As a freshman, Ed making it onto the Junior Varsity team was something to behold. Double D knew that this was no challenge for Ed, though, as his great height and muscly build served well to his advantage. While Double D was extremely proud of Ed, Eddy seemed to be infuriated by the prospect of Ed finding something new and interesting to spend his days on._

"_It's all going to go to his big, lumpy head, Double D! And I won't be taking him back into our group when it does…"_

"_Eddy, this is honestly quite selfish of you," scolded Edd as he folded his arm across his chest and tapped his foot. "This is about what Ed wants, not what you want, and if you ask me, this is a wonderful decision for him to make!"_

"_It should be about what I want," Eddy growled as he moved his eyes away from Double D's icy gaze._

"_No, it shouldn't, Eddy. I swear, sometimes you treat Ed and I as if we are animals!"_

_Eddy heard this and paused. His heart thumped, his temper grew, and words spewed out of his mouth faster than he could process them._

"_Ed is an animal! He's my animal, my pet, and I need him around to do my bidding and keep me company! Don't you get it, sockhead?!"_

_This was the final straw. Edd had it with Eddy's bullshit; the compulsive abuse that he and Ed suffered at the hands of this greedy little creep standing before him would no longer be tolerated. For god's sake, Edd was a fifteen year old boy. He didn't need to deal with the anxiety and pain that Eddy caused him to feel with all of his loaded words and all of his convoluted schemes; Edd had to worry about facing the rest of his life! So, without putting much more thought into the situation, the "sockhead" socked Eddy across the cheek with his right fist. Eddy stumbled and fell to the ground, holding his cheek. He spat out a miniscule amount of blood and then tried to lunge for Double D's scrawny legs, but was abruptly stopped by the brick wall which he recognized as Ed. _

"_What is being fought about, Eddy!?" Ed seemed somewhat distraught by the newly forming bruise on Eddy's cheek, as well as the furious look upon Double D's face._

"_It's nothing, Ed. I believe I'm going to go home now; please call me later to inform about me how practice went, today." And, with those words, Double D walked out of Eddy's life, leaving the short, temperamental boy in the arms of a confused Ed._

_Rumors flew between everyone in the cul-de-sac. The Kanker Sisters told some that Eddy had thrown the first hit and that Edd was hiding because he didn't want anyone to see the black eye. Sarah told all of her friends that Double D did it because Eddy stole her ice cream money. Eddy himself even told the kids of the street that he scared Double D off with his monster-like muscle power, and that the bruise was just the result of an epic struggle. On top of this, Double D was essentially isolated. Ed would come over for movies and pizza on the weekends, and Nazz would sometimes stop by for homework help, but for a full three years of high school, Edd was essentially by himself._

Eddy and Ed remained good friends, even to this day. Hell, Double D himself and Ed were still incredibly close, but Edd still missed the old days. He never stressed over homework, grades, tests, or even girls, but the idea of being alone always threw him into a panic. The slender boy reached his hand into his desk drawer and pulled out a pack of Marlboro Black Menthols. He popped out one cylindrical tube of tobacco and vile filters and placed it between his lips.

"What a filthy habit, Eddward," he muttered as he lit the cigarette. Edd took a long drag, and then released a storm of smoke from his open mouth. Just as he repeated this mantra, he heard a loud knocking on the front door of his house.


	2. Chapter 2

**Maps: a KevEdd Fic**

**Chapter Two**

"Hey, Double D!"

A friendly smile greeted the boy as he opened the door. A few ashes from his cigarette fell to the pavement of the porch as he stepped outside to greet Nazz.

"Hello, Nazz. What are you doing here at this time of night? Did you walk here by yourself?"

"Well, I tried calling you, but you didn't pick up, so I assumed I'd just come here to talk to you."

Edd looked away in a flurry of flustering embarrassment. He had been so lost in his own thought that he hadn't picked up the phone for one of his only friends. Nazz laughed and shrugged it off.

"It's okay! I just wanted to ask if you want to hang out with me and Kev after school tomorrow! We're gonna go see one of our friend's bands play at the café down the road."

Edd pondered the idea for a moment. It was quite unlikely that he would have homework tomorrow, as his Thursday classes were all electives, and elective classes tended to treat seniors with a little more leniency. At the same time, he wasn't sure if hanging out with Kevin sounded that appealing. Despite this, he decided that joining Nazz for an outing would make his life a little less lonely, and that was fine by him.

"Of course, that sounds like a fantastic time."

"Alright, Double D! Meet us at the park around six tomorrow, okay? I'll text you to remind you."

"Thank you, Nazz! I'll be there!"

"Later, dude!" Nazz waved goodbye to Edd as she walked across his lawn and toward her own house.

Edd sighed, and with it he let out a puff of smoke, but this sigh was light hearted and filled with an aura of content. He couldn't explain why, but he was genuinely excited for the adventure that tomorrow would hold. It had been a long time since he had felt comfortable to go on any out-of-the-house excursion. Double D's heart fluttered at the thought, and when he returned to his bedroom, he put out his half-burned cigarette and prepared himself for a good night's sleep.

* * *

School had gone by in a blur, just like usual. Edd meandered through the students from class to class, ate lunch outside with Ed, and then went home. It was nothing out of the ordinary, and he hadn't even seen Nazz during school so he could babble about how excited he was.

Edd decided he would try to gussy himself up for the day's activities as an attempt to make himself feel better. He stepped into the shower for a few minutes, which was just long enough to wash off the school day's filth. As he came out from underneath the hot water, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror.

Edd was certainly not the worst looking boy. He still had a mild gap in his teeth, which led him to refrain from smiling quite often, but no one would notice as long as he kept his mouth closed. Other than that, there was not a freckle on his face. He shifted his attention from his face to the top of his head. Edd's hair was a different story all together. It was a dark, raven black, with bangs that fell bluntly across his forehead when he wasn't wearing his black beanie to which he had grown so accustomed. The hair itself wasn't a problem, though it had grown quite unruly in recent months, but the beanie meant the world to Edd.

Edd had awful allergies when he was younger which caused his scalp, along with the rest of his skin, to break out in the most irritating form of hives. From that point onward, Edd's mother kept the house absolutely pristine, and had forced him to shave his head constantly to avoid his hair from irritating the troubled regions of his skin even more, and Edd kept the beanie as protection against the potential ridicule from his peers.

Even though Edd seemed to have grown out of these allergies with age (as well as grown his hair out), he had become so attached to the beanie that he couldn't bear to part with it. He felt naked without it; he was absolutely exposed to the world when he wasn't wearing his metaphorical shield upon his head—it was a thought Edd couldn't bear.

Putting these thoughts aside, Edd finished drying himself off and pulled a white, v-neck style shirt over his head. The boy generally despised v-neck style clothing on his own body, but he felt that this particular piece of fabric was fitting for attending some sort of musical gathering. It was the perfect mixture of a nonchalant, casual boy's fashion statement, and a perfect, plain, and clean article of clothing. The lanky boy inserted his arms into the sleeves of a maroon fleece sweater, and pulled a pair of faded blue jeans over his legs. Finally, he secured his favorite beanie onto his head, making sure his hair was all stored tidily away. While there was nothing particularly out of the ordinary or interesting about his outfit, he hoped it would be acceptable enough for the musical gathering he was attending.

Double D had always dreamed of going to a live concert, but with his unhealthy smoking addiction, the money that his parents would leave him while they were away was only enough to cover a couple packs of cigs and the basic food groups. He felt a sense of elation from the idea of hearing live music. He pondered the genre of the band to which they would be listening. Edd hadn't even caught the name, he was so quick to accept Nazz's request. With these thoughts flying around his mind, he left the house, locked the door, and walked toward the park, an unlit cigarette in between his slightly parted lips.

* * *

Double D checked his phone one more time; he was nearly thirty feet away from the park, it was nearly two minutes until six, and Nazz hadn't contacted him at all. He considered calling her, but he decided that may seem too pushy, and he didn't want to scare her off. He instead decided to wait on a bench just outside of the park and wait. Unfortunately, Edd was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't notice the other body sitting adjacent to his own on the bench.

"Dweeb, you're almost late," said a deep voice, sending a mild chill down Edd's spine.

"Oh, Kevin!" Edd inhaled the smoke from his cigarette one last time before putting it out on the side of the bench and then placing the butt in his pocket, a habit he picked up in order to avoid polluting his surroundings while outdoors. "Sorry. I was thinking. A lot."

"Thinking is for losers," replied Kevin as he stood up. "We could have been late; you should be grateful Nazz even invited you."

"Oh, you seem to be in the most pleasant of moods today, Kevin," Edd mumbled sarcastically as he cocked his head to the side.

"I'm not the one with a pack of cancer sticks in my pocket, Anxiety Boy."

"My mental and emotional condition is not for you to question or use against me, you pompous jock."

"Well," scoffed Kevin as he turned toward the slender boy, "tonight should be fun, seeing as Nazz woke up sick today and won't be coming with us."

"You mean…?"

"Just you and me, dweeb."

"Great."

"Yup."

"Alright, then, Kevin," Double Dee began as he brought himself to his feet, "I suppose we should be on our way, so we aren't late."

Edd stepped in front of the opposing boy, both of them towering above the ground.

"You're just going to end our argument right there!?" Kevin tried to rekindle the heated debate, but his advance was quickly shot down by Double Dee.

"That's not worth my time. I'd rather enjoy my evening than argue with you."

"Did you just say I'm not worth your time!?"

And, with that, both boys walked toward their target location, each one shooting quick and snarky quips back and forth in small attempts to instigate the other.


	3. Chapter 3

**Maps: A KevEdd Fic**

**Chapter Three**

_Author's Note: Nathan Kedd Goldberg belongs to c2ndy2c1d; MAPS lyrics by the Yeah Yeah Yeah's _

* * *

Edd and Kevin sat down together at a table right in front of the café's miniature stage. The scent of freshly brewed coffee filled the air, and the low rumbling of distant conversations between other groups filled their ears. Edd, strumming his fingers on the table in a repetitive, rhythmic pattern, glanced toward Kevin, who was eyeing him with the upmost in contempt after their argument on the way there, and then looked away quickly. If they were going to have such a confrontational experience, Edd would have never, ever, EVER joined Kevin on this outing.

Suddenly, breaking the tension between the two, Kevin jerked himself out of his seat.

"Do you want, like… some coffee or something, dude?" The ginger nervously scratched the back of his neck as he gestured toward the barista's counter with his head. Edd was surprised he had even offered; kindness was not something that Kevin normally displayed.

"Sure, that'd be cool."

"What kind?" Kevin pulled out his wallet and flipped through a couple of bills before focusing his attention back to the lanky boy before him.

"Uh… whatever you generally purchase would be adequate enough for me."

"Tch… dork." With that, Kevin meandered toward the counter to purchase two cups of coffee, and a new person whom Edd had never seen before approached the table.

"Hey there, cutie," spoke the slender boy as he pulled a third chair over to the table and made himself comfortable directly next to Double D. His hair was a jarringly bright shade of cyan, most definitely dyed, and he had one single golden hoop in his left ear. He donned a crispy ironed white dress shirt, a sight in which Edd found a strange sense of comfort, but the rest of his outfit was really… something else. The skinniest, brightest red pants that Edd's pupils had ever beheld covered the boy's legs, and on his feet were a slightly worn pair of brown boating shoes. The boy's odd sense of fashion threw Edd's mind into a bit of a mental tizzy, as well as his somewhat brash greeting, and he struggled to find the correct words to reply with.

"O-oh, hello, I suppose," Edd managed to cough up as a reply to the boy. "Th-thank you?"

"Ooo, tall, lean, and shy—just my type!" The boy leaned back in his chair casually as a cocky grin crossed his face. "The name's Nat. You can call me Nat. In fact, only call me Nat."

Double D was unsure how to reply, and he quickly felt his face grow a light shade of scarlet. His sexuality was not something he often pondered, but he couldn't help feeling both flattered and embarrassed by Nat's forwardness. As a response to the boy's introduction, Edd simply nodded and replied, "I'm Doubl—I mean, I'm Eddward. Nice to meet you."

"Nat, what are you doing here?" Kevin placed two cups of aromatic coffee on the table before taking his seat and turning to the boy. "I thought you told Nazz you couldn't make it or something."

Nat grinned and folded his arms, leaning in toward Kevin, who seemed to be a bit irritated and a bit flustered.

"I decided I wanted to come here more. Besides," Nat directed his attention toward the stage, "Beth has a pretty cool band."

"Beth?" Edd grabbed his cup and pulled it toward him, shooting a curious glance at Kevin and Nat and joining into their conversation.

"Oh, yeah, that's the friend Nazz was talking about, Double Dweeb." Kevin's eyes seemed a little brighter as his frown turned into a half-hearted smile. "You interested in a little story?"

Edd nodded as he took a sip from the warm liquid contained within the cup he held in his hand—_yum, black coffee_.

"Well," Kevin began as he looked up at a few extravagant decorations on the dimly lit wall, "Beth and Nazz are kinda like second cousins, or something… Really similar in personality, and even kinda in looks, except Beth can be a little more cold. She was going to move to the area and transfer to Peach Creek at one point, but she went to a music school instead. I haven't seen her for a couple of years, but Nazz says she's been doing fairly well for herself. Can't wait to see her band play, though; that girl has pipes."

Edd found that he was unable to divert his eyes from the blissfully nostalgic look upon Kevin's face. He knew that Kevin wasn't always an ass; there were plenty of moments like the "booster shot" day, the time that Kevin hid Eddy's magazines and neither he nor Edd told anyone, and times when Kevin would seem to be the only other person in the cul-de-sac with common sense. It was in that moment, gazing upon Kevin's happy face, that the butterflies in Edd's stomach began to fly.

"Hey!" Nat quickly snapped the two boys back into the current day, forcing them to look at the stage. "Time to flashing back, guys; Beth is coming on!"

All of the lights in the café dimmed a bit more except for one bright one hanging over the stage. A teenage girl, seemingly seventeen or eighteen years old by appearance, with long, messy blonde hair, stepped onto the stage, as well as a single guitarist and a drummer. She was dressed fairly casually for a performance—her hair was pulled halfway up, her worn white shirt had a logo so faded on it that it strained Edd's eyes to try to make it out, and on her legs were a pair of skinny blue jeans. In fact, the only interesting thing about her appearance, other than the tall black creepers she wore on her feet, was her striking facial resemblance to Nazz. Her eyes were a rounder shape, but other than that, the difference was barely there.

"Hello," spoke a low, soft voice into the microphone. "We're, uh, Division, and we're here to… play stuff. This is Maps. I hope you, uh, enjoy."

And, with that, the guitarist began a quiet introduction and the rest of the room fell silent to the sound of the band.

Edd turned his eyes away from the group on the stage to look at Kevin, who seemed incredibly focused on the music surrounding him. Though he wanted to look back at the stage, he simply couldn't pull his attention away from the kindest expression he had ever seen on the ginger boy's face. Light freckles covered his nose, and his cheeks were slightly colored from sunny baseball practices. His backwards red cap had stayed the same through all these years. The way his leather jacket fell over his built, yet slender figure was almost like a sculpture, and Edd, somewhat to his displeasure, and somewhat to his own confusion, found that he was undoubtedly infatuated.

"_Pack up, I'm straight_," the vocalist began, "_Enough, oh say, say, say._"

The music faded to the background as Edd became lost in his thoughts.

"_Wait, they don't love you like I love you… Wait, they don't love you like I love you._"


End file.
